


Too Wise to Woo Peacably

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: RH Plus
Genre: Competition, Gen, Humor, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-16
Updated: 2012-12-16
Packaged: 2017-11-21 07:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/594879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ageha and Makoto can't compete in the school arm-wrestling competition, Eternal Moon Manor stages its own.</p><p>Thanks to Mendax for betaing; any remaining mistakes are mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Wise to Woo Peacably

**Author's Note:**

  * For [annakas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/annakas/gifts).



"But it would be so much _fun,"_ Ageha whined, for what Makoto was certain was the hundredth time. The walk from school had seemed four times as long today.

They passed the gates into the Manor. "But we can't," Makoto said. Again. "It wouldn't be fair."

"What wouldn't be fair?" Kiyoi asked, as they walked in the door. He always seemed to be dusting right at the entrance when they came in. Makoto assumed it was a deliberate choice, but it was still oddly comforting to have him there. Konoe and Masakazu were doing something over at the kitchen table; it looked like homework. It might even have actually been homework.

"There's a festival at our school next month!" Ageha said. "There's going to be all kinds of food, and we get to wear yukata and play games--"

"That sounds lovely," Kiyoi said.

"But there's an arm-wrestling competition, and we can't play, because Makoto-kun says it wouldn't be fair! And I wanted to impress all the girls." No one pouted like Ageha. No one.

"I'm sure the girls will still be impressed with you," Kiyoi said gently. "You'll look very handsome. We could even get you--"

"You won't be in the arm-wrestling competition?" Had Ami followed them home again? Had she gotten there _ahead_ of them? Did she have superpowers? "But that would be so much fun!" She looked over at Kiyoi, frowning in concentration for a moment, and then cried, "I know! We could have an arm-wrestling contest here!"

"Here?" Makoto shook his head. "There's only three of us."

Masakazu put his pen down. "Yeah, seems pretty pointless."

"Four, if you count Kiyoi-san," she said brightly, no doubt envisioning Kioyi with his sleeves rolled up to reveal bare arms. Not that Makoto was thinking of that.

"I couldn't possibly participate," Kioyi said, with a little chuckle that was probably supposed to sound humble. "I'm much older than--"

"I could do it," Konoe said, without looking up. "Then there'd be four of us. A preliminary round and a final tournament. Might be fun."

"No way you could beat me," Masakazu said immediately.

Kiyoi looked at Makoto. "What do you think?"

On one hand, Masakazu's original opinion was right; a competition between the four of them would be pretty pointless. On the other, it would make Ageha happy.

He shrugged. "Okay," he said. "Why not?"

 

Two weeks later, Makoto was regretting his agreement. Ageha was indeed happy, but he was also far too invested in the competition, and Konoe and Masakazu were even more invested in beating each other. It was almost all they talked about. Ami had taken over one of the spare rooms and wouldn't let anyone inside as she "prepared" for the tournament, which was scheduled for as soon as Makoto and Ageha returned from the school festival -- Ami was working a booth, but she'd taken an early shift so she could leave early. Masakazu had floated the idea of inviting some girls back to the Manor for the competition, but Kiyoi had put a stop to that with one pointed look.

Masakazu and Konoe had dragged a whiteboard they'd found who-knows-where to set up brackets. Since there were only four competitors, it should have been pretty simple, but they'd been arguing for days over the proper rankings. Would it be fair to pit the older vampires against the younger ones from the beginning? Should there be a weightlifting contest first, to properly measure everyone's strength? Should they pick numbers at random, and if they did, would Konoe or Masakazu try to cheat?

Finally Kioyi stepped in, writing in his own brackets and turning the whiteboard to the wall so no one could argue further. "We'll reveal it the night of the competition," he said.

"We could just turn it around and--" Konoe suggested, once he'd left the room.

The others shouted, horrified: "No!"

Konoe looked at them all. "Come on, it's not like he'd know if we--"

"He would," Masakazu said. "I don't know how, but he would."

Ageha nodded with authority. "Even Bakakazu knows better than _that."_

"Don't call me that," Masakazu snapped, as they all stared at the back of the board as though glaring at it _really hard_ would answer their questions.

Konoe bit his lower lip. "Maybe we could try peeking around the edge...."

_"No!"_

 

The festival was fun. The hot day had turned into a perfect, cool evening, and by the time they returned to the mansion, Ageha was laden with ridiculous prizes and his new yukata was sticky with watermelon. His smile was as contagious as always. "I still wish we could be in the school arm-wrestling contest, though."

"We'll have fun at the manor."

"As long as Bakakazu doesn't mess it up," Ageha said. "What'll he do if he loses?"

"He'll pout," Makoto said. "But he'll be fine. Kiyoi-san always makes him behave around guests." This was not exactly true, but was reassuring.

"I'm going to win," Ageha said happily.

Makoto grinned back. "You can try."

"Ha!" Ageha said. "I bet you can't even beat me back home."

They were out of breath from running when they got back to the Manor. "Welcome home," Kiyoi said. He was looking over the the front flowerbed. Makoto wondered if it was an excuse to escape the chaos inside. Ami had draped the path to the competition room in flowers and crepe paper, and she led everyone to the door with the solemnity of a priestess.

She unveiled the competition room with a dramatic flourish. It looked like a monster had eaten an enormous amount of candy, flowers and ribbons, and then vomited on every wall.

"It's beautiful!" Ageha said.

Makoto settled on a quiet, "Very nice."

"What do you think, Kiyoi-san?" Ami said, sidling up to him and smiling the scary stalker's smile she thought was charming.

"You clearly worked very hard on it, Ami-chan," Kiyoi said. He was smiling, too, and Ami's smile turned real and lovely in response. She was kind of pretty when she wasn't being obsessive.

Konoe and Masakazu were bringing in the whiteboard, finally liberated from exile. The brackets were simple: first Ageha against Masakazu and Makoto against Konoe, then a winner's and loser's competition.

"Best of three?" Ami asked.

Kiyoi shook his head. "We're vampires. We don't generally grant one another second chances."

"All right," she said. "All or nothing! Let the competition begin!"

 

Makoto watched as Ageha and Masakazu sat across from one another, glaring intently as they settled into their chairs. They were so busy glaring that Ageha almost slipped and fell, but he caught himself in time. 

Kiyoi, who was far out the door as he could be without physically leaving the room, sighed so loudly Makoto could hear it from his place behind Ageha's chair.

"In one," Ami said, "two, three!"

The struggle was brief, but passionate. The competitors grimaced, grunted, and sweated. In the end, Masakazu had the edge and slowly, slowly brought Ageha's hand down to touch the table. "A winner!" Ami shouted. Ageha snorted in disgust.

Masakazu brought his fists up in triumph. "Get up," Ami said to him. "We need to get to Round Two."

Makoto got in place and looked at his opponent. Konoe had always been nice to Makoto. Nice to everyone, really. So why did Makoto feel so nervous?

Ami cried, "One, two, three!"

Makoto should have been prepared. But Konoe was _fast._

"Good job," Konoe said encouragingly as he slammed Makoto's hand into the table.

"Wow," Ageha and Ami chorused.

"It's all about focus," Konoe said modestly, smoothing his hair into place. "But really, you made a good effort. Ageha-kun will have to work to beat you."

"Thanks," Makoto said, getting up and trying not to look irritated. Konoe had won fair and square; Makoto just wished he hadn't done it so quickly.

"Well," Kiyoi said, "let's have a break between rounds! I cooked a lovely souffle...."

Everyone brightened at the mention of souffle.

 

Ami announced the "Consolation Round" by displaying the floral crowns she'd made for the contestants. They were...very floral. She seemed extremely proud of them.

"You've put a lot of thought into these," Kiyoi said, holding one up at a safe distance. "Thank you for all your hard work."

Ami beamed. Makoto wondered if his head could hold up the crown. Flowers were pretty light, though, and he was a vampire. He'd be fine.

Probably.

He sat down across from Ageha, who fortunately seemed a bit more relaxed about this round than the first. Makoto wasn't sure he could take Ageha's Intense Stare. At least not without laughing.

"Get ready!" Ami cried out, making them both jump. "One, two, three!"

Ageha was a little distracted, so Makoto started out with the edge, pressing Ageha's hand just a few degrees off center. Ageha regained his focus quickly, though, and he was strong and determined not to lose twice. They grappled silently for a little while, but just as Makoto's arm was really starting to ache, Ageha began to lose strength. Makoto ignored the pain and pressed on. He was smiling by the time Ageha's arm hit the table.

Ageha was not. "Aww!"

"You can't always win," Makoto said. "But it was fun. Thanks."

Ami danced over with her floral crowns, which were, fortunately, not as heavy as they looked. The ribbons impeded visibility a little, but they were vampires, and they knew the Mansion well. It probably wasn't that hazardous.

Masakazu and Konoe had already settled down at the table. They were staring intently into each other's eyes. Neither of them blinked. Ageha leaned over, into Masakazu's field of vision. Masakazu slapped him away, never breaking his stare.

The corner of Konoe's mouth tilted up, very slowly. Both corners of Masakazu's mouth turned down.

"I guess you're ready," Ami shrugged. "One, two, three, go!"

 

Half an hour later, Kiyoi said, "Well, I was going to save the bloody cake Ami-chan brought until the end of the tournament, but...maybe we should cut it now."

"We were going to serve the consolation slices first anyway," Ami said. "We can give Makoto-kun and Ageha-kun their share. Maybe smelling the cake will...."

"Have they blinked yet?" Ageha asked.

Makoto shook his head. "I don't think so."

Kiyoi disappeared and returned with two thick slices of bloody cake.

It was delicious.

Konoe and Masakazu still hadn't moved. If you looked, very carefully, you could see a tiny wiggle, sometimes, around their joined hands.

Ageha put his fork down. "Can we eat their share?"

"Perhaps," Kiyoi said, "we could consider this match a draw--"

"No," Masakazu and Konoe said in unison.

"Of course," Kiyoi said, with a resigned sigh. "Ageha-kun, you and Makoto-kun can have one more slice each, and I'll go ahead and eat mine. We'll save the rest for now."

Ami fell asleep an hour later. Kiyoi found a blanket and draped it over her shoulders. "Kiyoi-san," she murmured affectionately, drooling a little out of the corner or her mouth. He smiled at her gently and patted her shoulder.

"Gross," Ageha said, and then frowned. "Do I drool when I sleep?" he asked. "I don't, do I?"

He did. "I've never noticed," Makoto said quickly.

Ageha crossed his arms over his chest. "This is boring. Can't we do something to get this over with?"

"I suppose we should," Kiyoi said. "You boys have school in the morning, and we're wasting electricity keeping the lights on all night." He got up from his chair and walked over to the table, where Masakazu and Konoe were still locked in an impasse. He took a deep breath, paused for a second, and then cried, "Enough!" He slapped his hands on the edge of the table, with so much force Makoto could feel a puff of wind.

The back of Masakazu's hand slammed into the table, and he yelped with surprise. Ami had snapped awake during the commotion. "Is it over?" she asked. "Did I miss it?"

"Congratulations, Konoe-kun," Kiyoi said, with his blandest smile. "Let's have the crowning, so we can all get to bed."

Makoto could still hear Konoe and Masakazu arguing over the outcome when he turned out his light.

 

They were bickering again at breakfast. Masakazu was sulking, Konoe was smug. Pretty much the status quo. Kiyoi poured them all a nice fresh glass of blood, and they settled down to breakfast.

Masakazu stabbed his eggs. "You must have cheated. And why are you reading our paper?"

"Because I wanted to know the news," Konoe said, turning a page. "And I don't cheat."

"You did," Masakazu muttered into his ham.

"Kiyoi-san, do vampires ever marry each other?" Ageha asked.

"Sometimes," Kiyoi asked, a little cautiously. "Why?"

"Just curious."

Kioyi sipped his blood. "Did you have someone in mind?"

"Not really," he said, his eyes flickering between Masakazu and Konoe like a spectator at a tennis match. "I guess I was thinking of...a friend."

Kiyoi relaxed a little. "For two people to get married," he said cheerfully, "first they must stop arguing."

"That's true," Ageha laughed.

Masakazu looked up, realizing too late that he'd missed something. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Kiyoi said smoothly, and the morning passed, bright and happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta, of course. The title quote comes from Shakespeare's _Much Ado About Nothing,_ though I confess I'm not sure how much Haruka and Masakazu's courtship has to do with wisdom. ;-)


End file.
